A Mindtool for Online Research--Reflection

I finished making my mindtool, which is meant to help students strengthen their online research and reading skills. Check it out at: http://www.wix.com/cmitton/Science-Fair-Research. I began using it with my students and received feedback from other teachers. Based on both experiences, I've decided to make the following modifications for next year:

1) Before beginning the science fair research project, I'll find a few websites of interest for the class to read together. Throughout a series of mini-lessons, I will introduce the students to Flowgram as I read the site out loud, think aloud, highlight key details, and draft summary notes. Then, I'll have the students work with partners to practice the strategy on another assigned website within Flowgram. Finally, they will work individually on an assigned site in Flowgram. I'm making this change because I realized that learning to generate research questions, navigate search engines, evaluate websites, and then read, comprehend, and reflect about online content is a lot to tackle! Introducing the skills in smaller stages will help scaffold student learning.

2) Secondly, as we used the webquest this year, I added a step into the process. I had the students bookmark each site they'd like to use for their research using Internet Explorer. After they located 3-7 sources, then we added them into Flowgram, highlighted, and wrote summary notes. This chunked the learning for the students into manageable pieces, and it also made writing the bibliography easier.

I'm sure as the students continue to work through the mindtool, we'll need to make some more adjustments. But, overall, I'm really pleased with the progress we're making as researchers and readers!

Mindtool Action Plan Revisited

After spending more time thinking about my mindtool project, I've decided to focus solely on the research phrase of the science fair project. In this concept map, I've listed the learning goals, tasks, and possible ways to achieve the goals. As you can see, I have several ideas. My plan is to narrow the web as I progress through the project to use just a few tools well.

Re-envisioning My Own Learning

Tonight I worked on a concept map about an upcoming science unit of study: the scientific method.



It was easy to create the specific learning goals, but I really struggled at first when it came to selecting the best mindtools to facilitate my students' learning during this process. As I learn more about my students' learning styles this year, I think it will be easier to understand what they actually need to learn and be successful.

To complete the mindtool project, I think I'll need to focus on just one section of my map. Since researching is the hardest part (and the most dreaded by the students), I'm going to focus on that section. The students will be allowed to work in partners this year, so finding a collaborative online method will be key. As a teacher, I'll also need to see what work each team member is completing. I like the idea of a concept map, but I'm not sure how to easily give feedback and guidance & ensure that each student fairly contributes. I found another possible tool called NoteStar that I'm going to look at more closely.